Now… where was I? Adelaide? Really? It must have been a week since I last put this laptop to any reasonable use, then! Shocking behaviour! Honestly.

Adelaide, The City of Churches, Camp Statues, Big Scotsman, whatever, was a really lovely place to be. The YHA, as I may have mentioned was absolutely splendid and the city itself was full of interesting things to see and to do, particularly within the Museum of South Australia. We were delighted that our friend S, who you may recall from our adventures in Sydney, happened to be in Adelaide at the same time as us and that he had some time to spare to take us to one of his old haunts (for it was in South Australia that he was brought up) and pass the time watching The World going by (in The World’s exotic cars) and discussing the many fine things that there are to see in this very big country.

While we were at a loose end in Adelaide, we also paid a visit to the Moonlight Cinema to watch a film. Continuing the theme of books that I read as a young(er) boy, we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which (and Kris would wholeheartedly disagree with me here) was nowhere near as good as the one with Gene Wilder in it (despite the creation of a role especially for Christopher Lee who can do no wrong). That’s about all I have to say about that.

We hit the road on Monday (is it really Friday already?) to investigate some more Big Things in South Australia. The first one that we came across was the Giant Cornish Miner (or Map Kernow [Son of Cornwall in Cornish]) on the outskirts of the town of Kapunda. A short way down the road in the picturesque town of Gurmeracha stands an 18.3m high rocking horse. A Big Rocking Horse big enough to climb. Apparently certificates are available from the café and the toy shop to prove that you climbed it. I made do with a photograph,

From Gurmeracha, we made our way South along some very windy coast roads to the misplaced German Alpine Town of Hahndorf. This place is well worth a visit as it is just like visiting Germany without having to understand their language. The Hahndorf Inn provides some fine German fayre (and even has Bavarian beer served from equally Bavarian taps) and comes highly recommended from Yours Truly. Sadly, we could not stay to witness the arrival of the Queen’s Baton (on its way to Melbourne for the opening of the 2006 Commonwealth Games) as we had a ferry to catch. We did stay long enough to discover a surprise Big Thing in the form of a giant egg.

Our arrival in Cape Jervis was too early for our ferry crossing so we spent a while taking in the views at nearby Rapid Bay before our voyage on the Least Well Organised Car Ferry journey to Kangaroo Island.

Kangaroo Island is famed for its wildlife, but most of the wildlife that we saw on our first night there buzzed menacingly around the common room of the YHA. The following morning, the wildlife seemed to have been splattered across the highways and byways of the island. We were told that there were koalas living in the trees in the South-West of the Island, but they didn’t want to be seen. My suggestion of a Valentine’s Day picnic lunch brought about the rain clouds with even more quickly than they arrive when I coat myself in Factor 30+, but we still took a drive around the scenic roads of Kangaroo Island down to some remarkable rocks called… The Remarkable Rocks. These large standing stones, unlike the ones on the mainland, are not considered sacred by Australia’s Indigenous as Kangaroo Island was not inhabited prior to the European colonisation. This is good news for us tourists as it means that we can climb on the rocks without having to worry about offending the locals.

We did get to see some wildlife shortly after our in-car packed lunch, down at Admiral’s Arch… Lots and lots of New Zealand Fur Seals, happily playing around in the Australian drizzle. I have never seen quite so many wild seals in my life and spent ages photographing them as they frolicked.

Surprisingly, it’s not so much Kangaroos for which the Island is famed, but Little Penguins (like the ones that we saw on the more appropriately titled Penguin Island earlier in our adventures). The penguins tend only to come ashore when the light of day has faded as it’s far cooler on land then. We took a tour (two minutes’ walk from the YHA) shortly after dusk and saw lots of the little blue penguins wandering around in the dark. They are immeasurably cute!

Back on the mainland we went in search of more Big Things. Murray Bridge was our first port-of-call, only to find that The Big Clock is no longer in existence. Instead the Australian town requirement for superlatives (every town must have The Biggest/Smallest/Oldest/First something-or-other in the World/Country/State/Town) is satisfied by having The Smallest Cathedral in Australia, which is no bigger than a village church.

The Big Lobster in Kingston S.E. is the most colossal crustacean that we have ever seen. Possibly even bigger than Murray Bridge’s Cathedral. There are all manner of Lobster-related souvenirs on offer at the adjacent gift shop/café, but we somehow manage to resist temptation and made our way instead to the town of Robe.

Robe was beautiful, but my memories of it have been seriously marred by the large bite marks that I have courtesy of the mosquitoes that decided to invade our cabin in the middle of the night, resulting in possibly the worst night’s sleep that I have had in a long time. I’d like to go back one day (with a mosquito net) and sound some more time walking around the coast and seeing the giant obelisk and old gaol.

Moving away from Robe (and its flying contingent) we headed down the coast. We made our first stop at the volcanic town of Mount Gambier, which has some terrific lakes in the huge craters at the top of the town. The water in the Blue Lake is the bluest and most beautiful water that I have ever seen. Further along the coast, we parked the car (all running well) to see the Petrified Forest. This is an awesome site and well worth the detour from the main road. It’s also worth walking along to the blowholes there, if only to watch the wonderful waves beating against the batter coastline. It’s a breathtaking sight.

Onwards, further still, we ended up in the endearing town of Part Fairy. The YHA there is an old stately home and our room was in the old coach-house. I’d happily spend another night there sometime. Time is now running short, alas, and we must press on down to Melbourne (we’re in Victoria now, in case you haven’t been following the map, please adjust your watches).

Today we hit The Great Ocean Road. This is probably the part of the journey that I have been looking forward to the most. Being a keen driver a long, windy tourist trail with lots of things to see along the way sounds ideal. Our first stop along the way was the Bay of Islands. The car park there was full of tour buses and camper vans, just like being at Uluru again. Somehow though the views of the mini islands off the coastline made up for this and it was easy to forget about the dozens of tourists also looking at the kind of scenery Slartibartfast himself would have been proud to have designed and just stand back and admire.

Scenic stop-offs seemed to be little more than a kilometre apart and, thankfully, not all of them were so crowded. Progress was slow and steady and the SD Card in my camera was filling up rapidly as we stopped at one beauty spot after another. The coastal views (London Bridge, The Arch, The Twelve Apostles, Gilbert’s Steps, etc…) were all beautiful. The biggest surprise of the day was the rainforest walk: I’ve never been in a rainforest before!

And now, after what has probably been my longest blog entry ever, I must wrap things up and leave my reader in peace. We are now in an ultra-modern YHA in Apollo Bay, which, shockingly doesn’t have an on-site launderette never mind wireless Internet access… sheesh! I expect that next time I blog we shall have reached our final destination… Melbourne!